G4 - Jungle Outskirts Near Fuselage

[Hollywood Heidi]

From the time Jack had told her Sawyer would only talk to her to this moment, several scenarios of what she thought would happen had run through her head. None had been remotely close to how it actually played out. Sawyer made the same requested exchange from before only this time, it wasn't said in a playfully teasing way. Kate was so taken aback that she couldn't have hidden her surprise even if she'd tried.

After a few seconds of silence, she mentally shook herself. There he was, on his knees, bloodied and bound to a tree. He'd driven two good people into doing this horrible thing to him and despite what had been done to him, which she didn't even want to think about, he stubbornly held to his way of doing things with an intense tenacity she'd never seen the likes of. "What? Are you serious?"

[DarkSideCookie]

And yet again were there some moments of silence following between them, in which Sawyer actually wasn't sure about her reaction. Or if she would come up with any reaction at all. Whatever she thought to see in him, he kept surprising her every time. Sawyer wasn't as predictable as most of the people, as Jack, and that was what made her feel unwittingly attracted to him.

"Baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery.", Sawyer eventually started to adduce reasons for him being serious. "I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a gen-u-ine I-raqi. Of course, I'm serious. You're just not seeing the big picture here, Freckles. You really going to let that girl suffocate because you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you I ain't greedy."

Maybe this wasn't more than an inappropriate game of his, but if it would draw the timid fawn out of its hiding, it was for something after all. And yet again was there no sign of joking or amusement in general on his face.

[Hollywood Heidi]

"Baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery."

The ghost of amusement hinted on her face. But as he continued, her expression grew more serious as her mind filled with hypotheticals.


"I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a gen-u-ine I-raqi. Of course, I'm serious.

If she'd agreed the first time he'd made his request, would things have come to this? Would Jack and Sayid have gone too far, doing something that will most likely haunt all three of them the rest of their days? And herself now, too, with wondering if she could have prevented all this if she just wouldn't have tried to one-up him at his mind game the first time around?


You're just not seeing the big picture here, Freckles. You really going to let that girl suffocate because you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you I ain't greedy."

Her head tilted slightly, a look of distaste flashing across it. He casually used Shannon's life as a chess piece and then had the gall to back up his demand by insinuating he could have requested far more than just a kiss.

This whole thing was crazy. It was only a kiss. It only became more than that if she let it by prolonging things rather than just doing it, getting the inhaler back, then moving on. Something about the way he looked up at her, watching her in silence, not with smugness or gloating over getting her into a corner like his face had shown the first time, but now with a seriousness intensity as if somewhere in his mind, there might have lingered apprehension over her refusing again and walking away. That hint of vulnerability, whether she imagined it or not, is what made up her mind.

"Okay," she said quietly with the hint of a nod.

[DarkSideCookie]

For some more moments, Kate stood there stone-still, just watching him with an expression he actually wasn't able to read. And in silence, he wondered if she would be going to refuse once again and just walk back towards Jack and Sayid. But then something seemed to happen upon her face.

"Okay,"

Only one word, but this one word was able to bring some kind of relief to him in a situation where anyone else would not have breathed a sigh of relief at all. He didn't have that damn medicine and someone just accepted to do something in hope for getting something back in return. But Sawyer didn't mind that. All he did mind right now was that one word.

"Okay.", he said too, as his head rose again from the tree behind him.

And then he was waiting. Waiting for her to approach him and to give him that one kiss he had asked for. For a moment, in which he closed his eyes, Sawyer wondered for the first time if all of this really had been worth one little kiss. Once their lips actually met, he had his answer. It was.

What started as one little kiss unfolded into something rather passionate. It was still just a kiss; but then again, you don't kiss someone you're not feeling attracted to the way she did. The initiative might come from him, but it was taking two to tango so to speak.

Once their lips parted again, Sawyer was waiting a little moment to finally make a confession. Or actually to simply clarify something. "I don't have it."

[Hollywood Heidi]

Kate took her time, walking slowly to him and lowering herself to kneel in front of him, bringing their eyes, but most important to the task, their lips, to the same level. She studied him a bit longer, wondering what was going on in his mind and how things had gotten to this point in time. She saw the fleeting hint of pain. Of vulnerability. The one she'd thought she'd seen whenever she watched him with that letter and when she'd confronted him about it.

Lord help her, but her heart went out to him, despite the fact he'd told her the accusations in that letter were the result of his own doing. It clearly affected him deeply. There was a real person under that selfish, maddening exterior. That's the part of him she concentrated on when she finally leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed him.

It was slow at first. Hesitant. Then something overcame her, drew her in deeper. The kiss escalated quickly and when it finally got through to her foggy mind that it was also going on far longer than it should have, she pulled back and a small exhale of surprise escaped her.

Kate kept her eyes downcast, unable to look up into his for fear that her eyes would give away how much the kiss had impacted her.


"I don't have it."

His comment, softly spoken, took a moment to sink in but when it did, it hit her like a bucket of ice water. She looked up at him incredulously, whatever hints of passion that might have been in her eyes gone before they met his. She started to pull back. "What?" she asked in quiet astonishment.

[DarkSideCookie]

And so it dwindled away, the little moment of theirs.

"The medicine.", Sawyer answered her question, although he was totally aware of the fact that it hadn't been a real question but rather an expression of incredulousness. "I don't have it, never did."

Sawyer didn't avert his gaze from hers but felt a little sorry for once. Not for the kiss, but for the way Kate was looking at him right now. But then again, she finally had to come to the realization that there was something between them. Sawyer wasn't completely aware of what it was yet himself, but other than she wasn't he refusing any kind of attraction towards her. Why was she holding it back, lying to herself? They both were just human and probably more alike than they thought.

[Hollywood Heidi]

The surprise had quickly worn off and now, with every word he spoke, she felt anger coming to a boil.

There had to be a logical reasoning behind all this. "The book--," she began, trying to clamp down her anger. Her voice was calm but the anger gave it a slight shake. "They said you found it in their luggage."


He started to give an excuse, acting casual and nonchalant. She could barely process what he was saying over her seething anger. There was no logic to the entire ordeal. Zero. He'd dragged this whole thing out to ludicrous lengths, putting people in situations they never should have been put in. Driving her to agree to the ridiculous exchange of a kiss for the inhalers and this whole time, he hadn't even had the damn thing. The fact that she'd allowed herself to be duped, to have even felt something, drove her over the edge. She couldn't take one more word out of him so she silenced him with the full force of her elbow to his face.




Kate got up and walked in angry strides. When she got back to Jack and Sayid, she avoided eye contact and continued moving in an attempt to avoid either of the men catching how upset she was. She managed to deliver the news in a calm, flat voice. "He doesn't have it."

[Ariel]

"He doesn't have it." 

"What?" Jack was in utter disbelief. After everything that had happened, their efforts to try and repair the damaged situation had all gone down the gutter with just four words.

"He's lying. Can't you see that? He's been lying from the beginning," Sayid piped up in anger, "He doesn't want us to get off this Island. That's why he attacked me."

"Hold on a minute," Jack attempted to put the breaks on as Sayid was getting ahead of himself.

"He destroyed the transceiver!"

"You don't know that," Yet before Jack could be the voice of reason Sayid had already departed from Jack and Kate upon his realizations. He was headed in Sawyer's direction, and Jack didn't know Sayid too well yet but he knew that if Sawyer was the one who had destroyed the transceiver then Sayid was going to loose it on him. "Sayid!" 

Booking it through the jungle, Jack and Kate ran after Sayid and tried to catch up. Yet they weren't fast enough, and in they both walked in on Sawyer with a knife in his arm and Sayid with his hands up in realization of what he had just done. Slipping into full on doctor mode, Jack ran to Sawyer's side and carefully removed the knife which caused blood to begin to spurt everywhere.

"You hit an artery," Jack announced in frustration, in disbelief that this was happening right now. He tried to get Sawyer to stop moving in his painful state, "Keep still damn it. Sayid, I need my stuff from the caves, my leather backpack. Go!" Attempting to pinch the artery closed, Jack listed off the instruction for Sayid, who rapidly made his exit from the situation he caused.

***

[Hollywood Heidi]

Kate had been pacing a path into the vined jungle floor at an angle to keep her expression of frustration and anger from the view of the men. They were already set off by Sawyer even before she'd gotten into the picture. The last thing she needed was for either of them to ask what exactly had happened or to think that something bad had happened to her. Nothing had happened that she hadn't let happen. Kate didn't need them flying off the handle in her defense. She gave Sawyer what he deserved with that hard elbow punch to the face.

But the news alone that he didn't have the inhalers coupled with Sayid's belief that Sawyer had destroyed the transceiver was enough to send Sayid into a rage after Sawyer.

Lost in her own anger, Kate didn't realize Sayid had gone on a war path to Sawyer until she heard Jack shouting out Sayid's name. Panic over what he'd do sent her rushing after Jack but they were both too late. The damage had been done.


"You hit an artery,"

Damage that could have easily been avoided without these pointless, drawn out games Sawyer played. Now he lay there, knife in his arm and the look on Sayid's face, the shock and shame over what he'd been driven into doing was somehow worse.


"Keep still damn it. Sayid, I need my stuff from the caves, my leather backpack. Go!"

Kate would have gone but Sayid needed to get away from this scene far more than any of them. She avoided looking Sawyer in the eye, avoided looking at his face altogether, and concentrated on the wound. Blood was spirting from the wound and despite how much she loathed Sawyer at this moment, she couldn't help feeling concerned. She wanted to help but stopped herself from getting any closer, knowing she might just be getting in the way. Instead, she would wait for instructions from Jack. "Can you make it stop?"

[DarkSideCookie]

Then things suddenly started to happen very fast, and before Sawyer knew it, he received an elbow in his face, happened to tangle up in a fight with Sayid and losing it with a gash in his arm.

Sawyer uttered a painful sound when Jack pulled the knife out of his flesh.

"Keep still damn it. Sayid, I need..."

It was following a moment of his field of view getting covered by a haze, yet didn't he missed Kate's voice suddenly joining in the buzz, just as he didn't miss the tone of true concern in it.

"Can you make it stop?"

He looked up at her in silent pain before yet again the feeling of losing control overcame him. Sawyer managed to fight it back but wasn't sure if he had missed some moments of the scenery for the next he saw was Jack and Kate both sitting at his side. Feeling the pressure around his arm, Sawyer looked up again, this time at Jack.

"Let go. I know you want to."

[Ariel]

"Can you make it stop?"

The situation was bad. Salvageable, but time was of the essence and Sawyer was delirious. He couldn't bare to make any promises to Kate that weren't certain, so Jack ignored her question and pressed on. Blood everywhere, Jack continued to fight Sawyer's struggling as he pinched the messy artery together as best as he could.

"Let go. I know you want to."

"Shut up. And stop moving." Jack scowled at Sawyer, talking complete nonsense. He had lost a lot of blood, so it would be normal for him to be light headed and say things out of delusion. Or it could be Sawyer doing what he does best, even in the worst of times. Jack hoped Sayid would make a rapid return, it already felt like he had left for the bag ages ago. Damn it, Sayid...

[Hollywood Heidi]

Jack was having difficulty keeping Sawyer still. Without prompt, Kate quickly rushed to Sawyer's other side to attempt to keep him still.


"Let go. I know you want to."

Kate frowned. What in the serious hell was wrong with this man? Despite everything Sawyer had put them through, there was no way Jack would let Sawyer die. She saw him as the kind of man who would go to all lengths to save anyone. It was that goodness, so little of which she'd had in her life, that drive to do right by everyone that drew her to him.


"Shut up. And stop moving."

Jack was keeping his calm though she saw his scowl and knew Sawyer had gotten to him. Or it could still be a residual effect from being driven to the point that had led to this one.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Shut up. And stop moving."

Oh no, he was just getting started.

"You've been waiting for this, haven't you?", Sawyer went on the same path. "Now you get to be the hero again because that's what you do -- fix everything up all nice."

Then his head turned towards Kate for a moment. "Tell him to let go, Freckles. We already made out. What else I got to live for?" Okay, this might have come out pretty dramatically, but then again, he actually didn't have anything left to live for as a matter of fact, and as emo as that was sounding. Of course, it didn't have something to do with Kate, but with the man the past had made him become. Sawyer didn't want to die, but if his time would be coming, he bid it welcome, though not without one hand raised to flip the bird.

"Hey, Jack, there's something you should know...", he suddenly added in Jack's direction again for all he could do while awaiting the death was spilling out what was coming into his mind. Probably without really meaning it. Who knew? Who cared? "...if the tables were turned, I'd watch you die."

And with these words, Sawyer allowed the haze around his field of view to finally get the better of him...


***Sawyer faints***

[Ariel]

"You've been waiting for this, haven't you?" "Now you get to be the hero again because that's what you do -- fix everything up all nice."

With Kate's help, Jack was able to keep Sawyer still enough to keep applying the adequate amount of pressure to the deep wound which bled profusely. Jack didn't allow Sawyer's delirious antics to stir too much of a visible rise as he was acting completely crazy, however Jack could not help but to allow Sawyer's words to stir uncomfortably within him and at that he continued to stare down at Sawyer in disbelief.

"Hey, Jack, there's something you should know...""...if the tables were turned, I'd watch you die."

One moment Sawyer had been struggling and spewing insults like a mad man, and then all of a sudden some sort of switch flicked off within him and he was out cold.

"Sawyer! God damn it...," Although trying to stay as collective as possible in front of Kate as to not alarm her, Sawyer's unconscious state sent Jack into a bit of a panic as this wasn't particularly a good sign, "His body is going into shock, he's already lost so much blood..." And right in the nick of time did Sayid stumble frantically upon Jack and Kate with Jack's bag in hand with all the supplies necessary to save Sawyer's life.

"About damn time," Jack uttered in relief as Sayid scrambled closer to Jack and Kate, opening the bag.

"What can I do?" Sayid offered his assistance, though after what he caused he felt rather helpless.

"We can manage from here," And with a nod in Sayid's direction, Jack dismissed their friend before Sayid disappeared through the bushes and back to the beach. Jack knew Sayid's emotional state had been through the ringer enough and hoped that he could go back to the beach to rest and clear his mind. Jack rapidly turned his attention back to Kate, "Grab my bag Kate," Jack's gaze pointed towards the bag propped upwards on the ground near them, "If we want to save his ass, we'll have to act fast," Jack saw Kate's worry stricken glance as she went for the bag, "We're gonna save him, Kate. Trust me." Although he knew Sawyer did not deserve his help for all the grief he had put him through, he knew Kate cared for him. And Jack wasn't about to let anyone else die, not if he could help it.

***

[Hollywood Heidi]

Kate was concentrating on trying to keep Sawyer still. He was strong and struggling against the both of them as he went off on Jack. She wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying until he turned and spoke to her directly.


"Tell him to let go, Freckles. We already made out. What else I got to live for?"

Kate grit her teeth and avoided looking up to see if that garnered any reaction out of Jack. The fact that she'd let herself get conned into falling for his 'inhalers for a kiss' ploy was bad enough and she'd imagined she'd be kicking herself over it for awhile, longer still if he'd decided to rub it in her face every now and again. But now he had to go and overshare with Jack what had happened, doubling her embarrassment and frustration at herself. Why was she even surprised? There's a chance Jack was too focused with what he was doing to have picked up on it, just as she'd been with Sawyer's earlier rants toward Jack. Maybe the entirety of his rantings were falling on deaf ears.

In this moment, it didn't matter. Kate continued to concentrate on holding Sawyer still. After one last rant toward Jack, Sawyer succumbed to the pain and blacked out.


"Sawyer! God damn it...,"

Kate finally leaned back onto her heels and looked at Jack. It amazed her how much he cared, even over someone who was making his and everyone's life extremely difficult and especially after Sawyer had literally just used his last conscious breath to tell Jack he'd watch him die.

Sayid returned just then with the bag of medical supplies. She looked back and forth between the two men as they conversed, avoiding unnecessarily delays of interjecting any comments of her own.


"Grab my bag Kate," "If we want to save his ass, we'll have to act fast,"

Kate quickly leaned to the side, unzipping the bag as she handed it over to Jack. She looked down at Sawyer, so still and quiet. There was so much blood. Her eyes went to his chest, looking for signs of breathing. His chest barely rose and fell with shallow breaths.


"We're gonna save him, Kate. Trust me."

Kate looked up at Jack and nodded. She did trust him. A lot more than she was comfortable with. Now was not the time to come to terms with the emotions and reactions that had hit her in this small clearing over such a short span of time. Kate switched herself to nurse mode and assisted Jack as he tended to Sawyer.

[Hollywood Heidi]

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The rest of Day 13 and all of Day 14

pass by fairly uneventfully. It is now:



Day 15 - Mid-Day

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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The rest of Day 15 passes by. It is now:


Day 16 - Morning


Thursday, October 7, 2004

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